Chapter 20: Higher Academy of Magic

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Chapter 20: Higher Academy of Magic

A black-hearted merchant certainly wouldn’t trade a magic ore vein for an admission spot at the Higher Academy of Magic. In other words, he had no intention of making this deal in the first place, and was even willing to offend the magic academy.

If you asked why Charlie had still agreed to go with Vic—

Because he wanted to come.

He believed that if the people from the magic academy wanted to make a move, Vic would definitely be the first one to get killed. As for him, he was merely poor little Charlie—a desperate, determined young man who wanted to become a mage so badly that he was willing to give everything, even his soul, to achieve it.

The Higher Academy of Magic was located in the northern part of the city, occupying nearly two-thirds of the land there, including that long stretch of city wall. The vast forest and lake beyond the northern city wall were also the private property of the Higher Academy of Magic.

Rather than saying that the Higher Academy of Magic was within Magipo City, it would be more accurate to say that the two were so intertwined that each was inseparable from the other.

It was Charlie’s “second” time here, and his feelings were very different.

As he looked at the imposing gates before him and watched groups of young people in standard mage robes walk past, chatting and laughing, the original host’s emotions began to churn once more. There was resentment, grief, and anger, along with deep heartbreak and despair. In the end, they all turned into helplessness.

Had the Higher Academy of Magic done anything wrong by turning him away?

No. They had simply followed the rules and regulations; they hadn’t targeted anyone in particular. So Charlie had actually never hated this place, nor had he ever hated those mage towers.

The original host hadn’t hated them either, and the current Charlie had no “never underestimate a young man just because he’s poor” complex. So he was able to appreciate the scenery along the way with a calm, ordinary state of mind.

It was just that what seemed ordinary to him always appeared slightly melancholy in other people’s eyes. And precisely because of that melancholy, his true thoughts were concealed, adding an extra air of mystery to him.

Mystery made people want to know more.

“What are you thinking about?” Vic asked.

“I was wondering whether I would still have come to Magipo if I’d known the answer beforehand.” Charlie let the wind blowing in through the carriage window wash over his face, his own question and answer drifting away with it. “Maybe I still would have come.”

“Just like you still came here today?”

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t we get out and take a walk?” Vic invited him, making a gentlemanly gesture for him to go ahead.

Charlie had no idea what Vic was up to, so he went along with the suggestion. The carriage soon stopped, and Vic personally opened the door and invited Charlie to get out.

The carriage happened to stop at a fork in the road. Directly ahead was the academy’s largest square, Freedom Square.

A mage statue dozens of meters tall stood there, holding a wand in one hand and a magic book in the other. It was clad in mage robes with its hood drawn up, and a huge pentagram magic array was displayed behind it.

Charlie looked up at the statue as Vic’s voice slowly drifted beside his ear. “I once came across a saying: Magic is a secret form of great wisdom, just as reason is a public form of immense folly.”

“Mr. Vic, your mastery of magic seems quite impressive.” Impressive enough to rise above vulgar interests and start discussing philosophy. Charlie offered the compliment without much sincerity.

“If you want to discover the most beautiful gemstones, you need a few special methods.” As he spoke, Vic took the lead, strolling leisurely as he continued talking to Charlie.

“I’m actually quite skilled at divination. This cane of mine is a divination staff specially used in my line of work to locate ore veins. So far, it has brought me a great deal of wealth and also guided me to this renowned holy city of magic,” he said.

At this, Charlie instinctively looked at the cane. “Do you use it for divination whenever you decide to do something, Mr. Vic?”

Vic said, “Of course. I even performed a divination specifically for this trip to the magic academy. Do you know what the result was?”

Finally, we’re getting to the point.

Charlie smiled. “I hope it’s a good—”

Before he could finish speaking, a tremendous crash suddenly came from deep within the academy.

“Bang!”

The earth itself trembled with the impact. Birds took flight, and in an instant, a wave of commotion swept through the area.

Charlie: He couldn’t smile anymore.

The smile shifted to Vic’s face. He apparently hadn’t expected that merely beating around the bush and teasing Charlie a little would make Charlie’s words so “accurate” that he couldn’t help wanting to applaud.

“Clap. Clap.”

He actually did so. “Mr. Blaze, being a necromancer is clearly beneath your talents. Why not switch careers and study word magic?”

Charlie gave him a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Have you never divined my future, Mr. Vic? I’ve never been particularly lucky, from childhood to now. Rather than saying I should study word magic, I’d say things simply have a habit of turning out contrary to my wishes.”

That “I” was both Charlie and Ji Bai.

Vic studied his expression. “Are you angry?”

“No.” Charlie lowered his eyes, and within an instant, he had regained his composure. “After coming to Magipo, I came to understand one thing—I don’t have the right to be angry yet. You said just now that reason is a form of immense folly. And I, who have yet to attain great wisdom, can only remain rational, can’t I?”

The last two words Charlie spoke were very soft, like a drifting breeze, uncertain where it would eventually go. Listening to him, Vic couldn’t help trying to trace where that breeze had come from. Yet when he once again caught those pale green eyes, their owner had already looked away.

“Shall we go take a look?” This time, Charlie was the one extending the invitation.

Vic looked at him, his fingertip rubbing the obsidian set into his cane. At last, he flashed a carefree smile. “Sure.”

The two of them then walked side by side toward the source of the crash.

At the same time, the sound of air being torn through— whoosh, whoosh —rang out intermittently from different directions across the academy. The powerful mages were rushing to the scene at the first possible moment.

Compared with them, Charlie and Vic were not walking particularly quickly. By the time they arrived, the site of the incident was already surrounded by layer upon layer of people. Only then did Charlie finally learn what had happened.

The section of the city wall leading outside the city—the part that belonged to Magipo but had been occupied by the Higher Academy of Magic—had been smashed open, leaving a huge hole. The culprits were a magic bear that had come from outside the city and a two-headed giant python. For some unknown reason, the two creatures had started fighting, and in their furious frenzy, they had crashed through the wall.

Although this section of the city wall was enclosed within the Higher Academy of Magic, academy guards were still stationed there. With the mages who arrived afterward joining them, the magic bear and giant python had already been subdued.

The students who had gathered to watch the spectacle were dressed in identical mage robes, chattering excitedly among themselves.

“Isn’t there a barrier around the forest? That magic bear and giant python aren’t weak. They should have been deep inside. How did they get outside and even smash through the wall?”

“Look at their eyes! They’re completely red!”

“Huh? Why is there another group of unlucky people over there? Don’t tell me they happened to be having a practical lesson in the forest?”

……

…

Listening to the discussions around him, Charlie calmly looked toward a group of students coming in from outside the city. Most of them were covered in dirt, and their mage robes showed obvious stains and tears.

Although their eyes held surprise and lingering fear, many of them were visibly exhilarated. When they saw the subdued magic bear and giant python, their eyes even gleamed with excitement.

“They caught them! Look, they’ve been caught!”

“Oh my god, they’re huge! This is the first time I’ve ever seen magic beasts this enormous…”

“Is this the world of magic? Is this the world of the strong?!”

Chattering freshmen, laughable strength, and the courage of wild bears.

The teachers present had no choice but to scold them and stop them from getting too close and accidentally getting caught in the crossfire. Of course, there were also plenty of timid freshmen, who clutched their wands tightly and kept their distance. These fragile magic apprentices couldn’t withstand even the slightest mishap.

The bold ones were too bold, while the timid ones were far too timid. The teachers were so exasperated that veins stood out on their foreheads. Just as one of them was inwardly complaining that each new class of freshmen was harder to manage than the last, he caught sight of Charlie and Vic—two unmistakable outsiders—in the corner of his eye.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The teacher’s expression was solemn, his eyes filled with suspicion. After all, an accident had just occurred at the academy, and outsiders had shown up at the scene. It was certainly suspicious.

Just then, someone else arrived.

A middle-aged male mage wearing a monocle and ritual mage robes descended from the sky. The people around him greeted him one after another when they saw him.

“The director is here!”

Vic lowered his voice and introduced him. “Percy Vonn, the Director of Studies at the Higher Academy of Magic, a Grand Archmage. His magic strength is middle of the pack, but he’s devious, cunning, fiercely protective of his own, and very vindictive.”

Charlie glanced sideways. How does he manage to call other people devious and cunning?

“Is there anything you want me to do?” he asked.

“How about…” Vic turned his head toward Charlie, suddenly intrigued. “Why don’t you take it from here?”

Let’s see what other surprises you can bring me.

The next moment, Percy Vonn looked over.

Charlie calmly concealed all his probing and scrutiny, while Vic curled his lips into a confident, generous, and enthusiastic smile and took the initiative to walk forward.

“Director Vonn, we meet again.”

“So it’s Mr. Vic. My apologies for not greeting you sooner.”

The two devious and cunning men opened their arms and gave each other a big hug, perfectly demonstrating both social etiquette and hypocrisy.

The hug lasted exactly as long as social etiquette required.

Percy Vonn maintained his polite smile and said apologetically, “I’m afraid you’ve witnessed an unfortunate scene, Mr. Vic. We hadn’t even had a chance to entertain you after inviting you here, and this accident happened.”

Vic glanced toward the city wall again. “Not at all. The Higher Academy of Magic is immensely powerful. This was merely a minor disturbance, hardly worth mentioning.”

At this, Percy Vonn didn’t continue discussing the matter. Instead, he turned to Charlie. “And this is?”

Vic introduced him. “This is Charlie Blaze, my companion.”

He said nothing more, simply turning his smiling gaze toward Charlie. Charlie stepped forward and nodded in greeting. “Good afternoon, Director Vonn. You can just call me Charlie. A month ago, I also came to the magic academy to study. Unfortunately, I wasn’t accepted.”

Percy Vonn looked slightly surprised by this answer. The other students from the magic academy who had been watching also couldn’t help casting curious looks in his direction.

Charlie? He failed the entrance exam? At his age, failing to get in… Looks like he really has no magic talent…

“Ah, I remember now!”

Suddenly, an excited voice rang out from the crowd. Everyone around turned to look. Realizing he had lost his composure, the student quickly fell silent under the teacher’s warning gaze, but the excitement and teasing in his eyes were impossible to ignore.

The student beside him quietly tugged at his sleeve. “Who? Who is he? What did you remember?”

The student winked at him and answered in a low voice, “So many people come to the magic academy to study every year. You might not know him, but I happened to be in the same group as him that day. At first, I thought he was some young nobleman, but I never expected his magic talent to be so poor, so I remembered him. Later, a fellow townsman of mine from one of the mage towers told me…”

As the whispers began to spread, the name “Charlie of Gray Hat Street” finally made its way into the Higher Academy of Magic.

Meanwhile, Percy Vonn looked at Charlie with a gentle expression. “That really is unfortunate. But, young man, you still have a long road ahead of you. Don’t lose heart.”

Charlie lowered his melancholy eyes. “I still remember that my adoptive father, Lord Lully of Southern Capital Prefecture, was once a student at the magic academy as well. And yet I…” He paused. “Now that I’ve had the good fortune to accompany Mr. Vic back to the magic academy, Director Vonn, may I walk around and have a look?”

Percy Vonn looked at Vic. “And what do you think, Mr. Vic?”

Vic smiled. “The Higher Academy of Magic is a place every mage dreams of entering. It has always been open and accepting. Surely it wouldn’t refuse the modest wish of a student who has come from afar?”

Percy Vonn couldn’t help cursing inwardly, but he maintained the dignity of an elder on the surface. “Of course.”

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